This invention relates generally to a transportation system for a wind turbine rotor blade and to a transportation rack for such a wind turbine rotor blade. In particular, the present invention relates to a modular transportation unit for a wind turbine rotor blade.
The transportation of large rotor blades from the fabrication site to the construction site of a wind turbine poses a technical problem. Since wind turbines are often located in remote areas, the rotor blades have to be transported to the construction sites by truck, ship or even helicopter. Therefore, a transportation system for wind turbine rotor blades has to guarantee secure transportation while providing the required flexibility. Especially, such a transportation system should allow easy loading and unloading of the rotor blade from one transport vehicle to another. Furthermore, it should be taken into account that large rotor blades have a considerable weight while also having a fragile elongated structure. Therefore, a transportation system for rotor blades should also provide protection against damages during transportation, loading and unloading.
Furthermore, wind turbines are often grouped together in so called wind parks. Typically, each of the wind turbines in a wind park has three rotor blades. Therefore, the number of rotor blades which have to be shipped to a specific construction site is relatively high. For a transportation system to be efficient, it should therefore make good use of the available transport space.
Wind turbines have considerably increased in size and power during recent years. Accordingly, the rotor diameter of wind turbines has increased up to maximum diameters of more than 100 meters. Therefore, also the length of the rotor blades of a wind turbine has considerably increased. Recent wind turbine designs utilize rotor blades having a blade length of up to 70 meters or more.